Arculf in the context of Ecclesiastical History of the English People

Adomnán or Adamnán of Iona (Old Irish: [ˈaðəβ̃ˌnaːn]; Latin: Adamnanus, Adomnanus; c. 624 – 704), also known as Eunan (/ˈjuːnən/ YOO-nən; from Naomh Adhamhnán), was an abbot of Iona Abbey (r. 679–704), hagiographer, statesman, canon jurist, and saint. He was the author of the Life of Columba (Latin: Vita Columbae), probably written between 697 and 700. This biography is by far the most important surviving work written in early-medieval Scotland, and is a vital source for our knowledge of the Picts, and an insight into the life of Iona and the early-medieval Gaelic monk.

Adomnán promulgated the Law of Adomnán or "Law of Innocents" (Latin: Lex Innocentium). He also wrote the treatise De Locis Sanctis ('On Holy Places'), an account of the great Christian holy places and centres of pilgrimage. Adomnán got much of his information from a Frankish bishop called Arculf, who had personally visited Egypt, Rome, Constantinople and the Holy Land, and visited Iona afterwards.

De locis sanctis (Concerning sacred places) was composed by the Irish monk Adomnán, a copy being presented to King Aldfrith of Northumbria in 698. It was based on an account by the Frankish monk Arculf of his travels to the Holy Land, from which Adomnán, with aid from some further sources, was able to produce a descriptive work in three books, dealing with Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and other places in The Holy Land, and briefly with Alexandria and Constantinople. It aimed to give a faithful account of what Arculf actually saw during his journey. Many of the manuscripts contain the second earliest known map of Jerusalem (it was the earliest known map until the discovery of the Madaba Map.)

The work contains the four earliest known drawings of Christian churches in the Holy Land; three are in Jerusalem (the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Church of Zion, and the Chapel of the Ascension) and one in Nablus (the Church of Jacob's Well).